Lake Orion recognizes Oxford village for help with storm

Lake Orion Village formally recognized the Oxford Police Department and Department of Public Works for helping and sending staff the night of April's windstorm. Pictured are, from left to right, police officers James Sommers, Brian Schick, Kaethe Davis, Mike Bono, Phil Humphrey and Paula Grech along with Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh.

LAKE ORION >> Through a formal resolution this week, the village recognized the Oxford Police Department, and the Department of Public Works for sending a total of 14 staff members to help the Orion area during the massive windstorm April 12 that toppled trees and power lines throughout the community.

“Major events require a major response,” Lake Orion Police Chief Jerry Narsh said before the meeting. “But in my 32 years in law enforcement, I never witnessed a storm like that.”

The wind and hail storm, which hit around 7:45 p.m. that night, caused eight homes to be evacuated and condemned; significant damage to 77 houses and, at one point, left 8,000 DTE Energy customers in the area without power. No one was injured or killed in the short-lived but vicious storm.

The Oxford Police Department has always provided mutual aid assistance to Lake Orion Police, but Narsh believed the village went above and beyond this time, because the storm did not hit the Oxford area as hard.

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Oxford sent 10 police officers and reserves and four Department of Public Works employees to Lake Orion that night to help remove trees from roads and secure areas that had downed power lines. At one point, M-24 was closed for about an hour, and the roads Orion, Indianwood, Church and Flint also had to be closed temporarily until they were cleared and deemed safe, he said. So, besides clearing the roadways, the staff helped direct traffic. DPW employees brought equipment as well.

Oxford Village Manager Joe Young received the call from Lake Orion asking for help around 8:30 p.m. that night, he said. The village did not have any DPW staff members who were scheduled to work that night but found four willing to assist. In addition, the majority of the police and reserves were off duty as well and called in to help.

“It was, in essence, a disaster,” Young said. “They had an unsafe situation, and they needed help as much as possible to get everything secured, minimize any injuries and make things safe again...When there is a time of need, everybody pulls together.”

In addition, the Orion-Oxford Dispatch received recognition for bringing in additional employees that night and handling 300 calls within two hours. Young also noted that the Orion Fire Department provided tremendous assistance, and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office dispatch center served as a backup fielding 46 dispatch calls.

“What made it so extraordinary was our need and their response,” Narsh said. “That’s a tremendous response from a neighboring agency.”